Winning and losing is part of a cricket game, but sometimes a loss can be heartbreaking, especially if they come up short by the barest of margins.
Though cricket is a team sport, sometimes an individual carries the team throughout the game. It can be a player who single-handedly keeps his team in a contest and, despite his best efforts, the team comes up short.
Scoring hundreds and yet losing is one of the scenarios of a team being in the contest just due to the brilliance of a player. These instances would make us feel more for the player.
Here in this piece, we will list the unfortunate instances of batters scoring centuries in losing causes in the IPL.
List of IPL Centuries in Losing Cause
| Player | Score (Balls) | Against | Venue | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrew Symonds (Deccan Chargers) | 117* (53) | RR | Hyderabad | 24 Apr 2008 |
| Yusuf Pathan (Rajasthan Royals) | 100 (37) | MI | Mumbai (Brabourne) | 13 Mar 2010 |
| Sachin Tendulkar (Mumbai Indians) | 100* (66) | Kochi Tuskers Kerala | Wankhede | 15 Apr 2011 |
| Shane Watson (Rajasthan Royals) | 101 (61) | CSK | Chennai | 22 Apr 2013 |
| Wriddhiman Saha (Kings XI Punjab) | 115* (55) | KKR | Bengaluru | 1 Jun 2014 |
| Virat Kohli (Royal Challengers Bangalore) | 100 (63) | Gujarat Lions | Rajkot | 24 Apr 2016 |
| Steve Smith (Rising Pune Supergiants) | 101 (54) | Gujarat Lions | Pune | 29 Apr 2016 |
| Hashim Amla (Kings XI Punjab) | 104* (60) | MI | Indore | 20 Apr 2017 |
| Hashim Amla (Kings XI Punjab) | 104 (60) | Gujarat Lions | Mohali | 7 May 2017 |
| Rishabh Pant (Delhi Daredevils) | 128* (63) | SRH | Delhi | 10 May 2018 |
| Sanju Samson (Rajasthan Royals) | 102* (55) | SRH | Hyderabad | 29 Mar 2019 |
| KL Rahul (Kings XI Punjab) | 100* (64) | MI | Wankhede | 10 Apr 2019 |
| Ajinkya Rahane (Rajasthan Royals) | 105* (63) | DC | Jaipur | 22 Apr 2019 |
| Mayank Agarwal (Kings XI Punjab) | 106 (50) | RR | Sharjah | 27 Sep 2020 |
| Shikhar Dhawan (Delhi Capitals) | 106* (61) | Kings XI Punjab | Dubai | 20 Oct 2020 |
| Sanju Samson (Rajasthan Royals) | 119 (63) | Punjab Kings | Wankhede | 12 Apr 2021 |
| Ruturaj Gaikwad (Chennai Super Kings) | 101* (60) | RR | Abu Dhabi | 2 Oct 2021 |
| Venkatesh Iyer (Kolkata Knight Riders) | 104 (51) | MI | Wankhede | 16 Apr 2023 |
| Yashasvi Jaiswal (Rajasthan Royals) | 124 (62) | MI | Wankhede | 30 Apr 2023 |
| Heinrich Klaasen (Sunrisers Hyderabad) | 104 (51) | RCB | Hyderabad | 18 May 2023 |
| Virat Kohli (Royal Challengers Bangalore) | 101* (61) | GT | Bengaluru | 21 May 2023 |
| Virat Kohli (Royal Challengers Bengaluru) | 113* (72) | RR | Jaipur | 6 Apr 2024 |
| Rohit Sharma (Mumbai Indians) | 105* (63) | CSK | Wankhede | 14 Apr 2024 |
| Sunil Narine (Kolkata Knight Riders) | 109 (56) | RR | Kolkata | 16 Apr 2024 |
| Ruturaj Gaikwad (Chennai Super Kings) | 108* (60) | LSG | Chennai | 23 Apr 2024 |
Key Insights
4: The number of batters who have scored a century and ended up on the losing side more than once in the IPL. They are Virat Kohli, Sanju Samson, Hashim Amla, and Ruturaj Gaikwad.
3: Virat Kohli leads this unfortunate list of having scored the most tons in a losing cause, and 3 of those came while playing for RCB. (Check out Virat Kohli’s IPL tons here.)
2: On the other hand, both of Hashim Amla’s IPL career centuries came when his team Punjab ended up on the losing side in the 2017 season. Likewise, CSK’s skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad also bagged this dubious distinction, while Samson’s 2 of 3 tons came in a match-losing effort.
Rishabh Pant’s 128 is the highest score to come in a losing cause in IPL history, and the match took place in Delhi against SRH in 2018.
The 2023 season saw 4 players score tons, but their team came up short, while the 2024 edition has already seen 4 of those instances.
